Métis Gardens Welcome Pavilions

two skins of steel and wood are deployed on the site integrating screens, partitions and roofs into a single structure that blurs the boundaries between architecture and landscape

Métis Gardens Welcome Pavilions 1 / 20 informations

Project
Métis Gardens Welcome Pavilions
Year
2003
In consortium with
Vlan paysages
Uniform
Price
Governor General's Medal, Canada Council for the Arts, 2006
Winner_Landscape Competition 90-0 km/hour
Links
Jardins de Métis

challenge

The challenge was to integrate the architectural interventions into the landscape, while respecting the environment and accompanying the visitor in his/her discovery of the Gardens.

proposal

The itinerary through the Gardens est oriented along its former main axis – the king’s path. A perforated steel wall forms a screen extended along the path, and reveals the wooded areas of the Gardens in the background. The screen is a guiding element, leading the visitor through the garden. The welcome pavilion, attached to the screen, is situtated on stilts and delicately overlooks part of the vegetable garden, respecting the ecosystem and morphology of the existing terrain. This privileged situation has been exploited to reveal the space through a construction completely open to the landscape. This creates a route for the visitor and users where the limit between interior and exterior is blurred; the user is permanently linked to the landscape in his/her movements. Near one of the extremities of the building which houses the ticket office, the screen slides and suddenly transforms itself into a large roof.  A little futher along, it turns towards the ground where it creates a gap through which the visitors access the gardens. The building literally melts into the landscape.

 

project relevancy

For the project, the pavilion demonstrates the firm’s capacity to implement fluid and convivial reception areas for the public and occupants, which allow for easy management of crowds. It also exhibits in situ’s desire to work with landscape, whilst considering architectural integrations. The visitor ends up losing sight of the limit between the interior (constructed element) and the exterior (landscape) during his/her use of the spaces.

This project was realized in collaboration with Vlan paysage, a landscape architecture agency with whom in situ also works for the project Dame-de-coeur Theatre.

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